


Under Garden and Calicos

by Myarose_7



Category: Druck | SKAM (Germany)
Genre: Amira is a good friend but what else is new, Anxiety, Bookstore AU, Canon Trans Character, David is a fucking nerd, M/M, Mention of Drug Abuse, Recovery, adhd and autism coded, coming out scene, david giving book recommendations... i’m living, disaster gay matteo, they are both space gays
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-08-23 19:23:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20198500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myarose_7/pseuds/Myarose_7
Summary: “I’m Matteo. I have no idea why I said I’m gay. I mean, I am, but that's irrelevant” He had started to ramble, but caught himself before he said too much.David laughed. It was a beautiful sound. “Good to know.” Then he winked so quickly that Matteo almost missed it. “If you are looking for anything in particular, just let me know.”Matteo and David meet in a bookstore after Matteo leaves a party. Matteo is a mess and David seems cool and collected.





	1. You are a call to motion

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Ladypeaceful for being my beta on the first chapter. Please go check out their works as well, they’re amazing and I love them <3

The music was too loud and he was starting to get claustrophobic from how crowded it was. Matteo usually liked parties, but this one was, as Carlos would say, giving him vibes. Bad vibes. He tried to have fun with the boys and drink a little, but his mind wasn’t in the right place. Jonas kept giving him worried glances until Matteo finally told him that he was going home. Carlos and Abdi had disappeared somewhere doing who knows what. Jonas patted his shoulder and told him to get a good night’s sleep and text him in the morning. He nodded and headed towards the exit.

He was barely drunk and he was slightly lightheaded. The cool air felt good on his skin. He walked down the street from the bar he was just in. There were no buses running at this time of night so he began walking towards what he hoped was home. 

He was lost. Utterly and totally lost. He had been walking around aimlessly for maybe ten minutes when he finally pulled out his phone and typed into Google Maps. Matteo sighed and slid down the brick wall he was leaned up against. He had been walking the wrong way. 

He looked across the street to see that the only store still open was a little bookstore. It was nearly half-past twelve.“Why would a bookstore be open now?” he wondered out loud. 

He sighed once more and stood up. ‘ _ Seeing as I have nothing better to do,’  _ he thought as he walked over to the other side of the street. 

Matteo heard a bell ring as he opened the door. There were bookshelves on the walls and all across the store. He didn’t know what else to expect, it was a bookstore. Matteo started to walk down an aisle and ran his fingers down random book spines. He wasn’t really paying attention and when he was near the end of the aisle, he bumped into someone. The books that they had been holding fell to the floor. Matteo bent down to help pick them up.

“Shit, sorry I wasn’t paying attention.” Matteo half mumbled. He glanced up at the person who he’d run into to see a very attractive man. He looked around the same age as Matteo.

“Don’t worry about it,” the man said, taking the books from Matteo’s hands gently. “It could happen to anyone. I’m David.” 

Matteo blanked for a second. “I’m gay, uh I mean, shit.” He couldn’t think straight and had just fucked up any chance of a good impression. Why he felt he needed to impress this guy, he had no clue.

“I’m Matteo. I have no idea why I said I’m gay. I mean, I am, but that's irrelevant” He had started to ramble, but caught himself before he said too much.

David laughed. It was a beautiful sound. “Good to know.” Then he winked so quickly that Matteo almost missed it. “If you are looking for anything in particular, just let me know.” 

Matteo looked at him oddly and blushed. 

“I work here, my sister owns the place and I help out. You know, easy money.” 

“Oh, yeah,” Matteo managed quietly.

“I was going to close up soon, but feel free to look around.” Then he walked down the aisle, putting books back in their place as he went. Matteo walked around the store for a little while longer and ended up leaving without buying anything.

Now he had to find his way back to the flat. 

—

Matteo did it. He came out. After many encouraging words from the boys and a mental breakdown in front of Hans, Matteo came out to his parents. He called his mom first and she took it surprisingly well. There was no ‘burn in hell’ like he thought there would be. She said that she would love him no matter what and Matteo almost cried. Almost. 

With his dad, he couldn’t work up the courage to call. Instead, he sent him a text. It was only about two sentences, but it would suffice. He waited a few hours and then checked his notifications to see if his dad had responded. 

“Dude, chill,” Jonas said. He had called Jonas over as soon as he sent the text. Now they were sitting in the kitchen and Matteo was trying to focus on making pasta à la Luigi. Emphasis on  _ trying _ because he kept looking at his phone every other minute. 

“I’m sure he’s just busy, Luigi.”

“Or maybe he wants nothing to do with me anymore. You know, his gay son.” 

“Your mom wasn’t like that, so why would your dad be?” Jonas had a good point, but there was a part of Matteo that didn’t want to listen to him. The part of him that said everyone was going to leave him eventually. 

“Yeah, I guess.” Matteo then turned back to his pasta. When it was finished, he put it on the table between him and Jonas. They ate in silence and soon there was a  _ ping _ from Matteo’s phone. He almost dropped it trying to get it off the table. 

“Is it your dad?” Jonas asked with a mouthful of pasta. 

“No, Amira,” Matteo said while replying to her.

**coach: ** _ hey are we still on for studying Saturday? _

**vollidiot: ** _ depends _

**vollidiot: ** _ super stressed atm _

**coach: ** _ I’m taking that as a yes for now. _

_ — _

Saturday came by fast. Matteo had spent a good portion of the week checking his phone to see if his dad had responded yet. The answer was always no. He was going to cancel on Amira but she said that even if he canceled, she would still come over to study. That was just how she was. 

So now they were sat in the living room of the flatshare, Amira trying to get Matteo to focus on something from some lecture. It wasn’t working. All Matteo could think about was that his dad still hadn’t answered him. If it was anything else, he probably wouldn’t have cared, but he came out for fuck's sake. Matteo had hoped that his dad would at least act like a father in this situation. And the fact he’s avoiding it made Matteo anxious. It also made him a little angry.  _ It’s been a week.  _

“Alright, let’s go,” Amira said, snapping Matteo out of his thoughts. She started to pack up her notes. 

“Uh, where to, exactly?” 

“You obviously can’t focus. And I’m hungry.” She headed towards the door. “So we are going to get lunch, your treat.” 

“Don’t you mean ‘my treat’?” Matteo stood and followed her to the door, slipping on his shoes.

“Nope, you’re paying.”

They decided on a place to eat that was about ten minutes away. As they walked into the cafe, Matteo thought that this area felt familiar. He brushed it off. They ordered their food and sat down near the window. Matteo had gotten a chai latte that Amira insisted he would like, and a cheese sandwich. 

After they ate, Amira somehow convinced him to go book shopping with her. She said that there was a bookstore a street over so they could walk. When they got to the store, Matteo realized why this area looked so familiar. This was where he had gone after that party last Saturday. 

They entered and Matteo heard the bell above the door. The person at the counter looked up and smiled at them. “Amira, long time no see,” David said.

Then he looked at Matteo and he felt like he was melting. His eyes were dark brown and intense. He had to look away, even if he didn’t want to. If he could, he would look into those eyes all day. 

“I didn’t know you knew Amira, gay Matteo.” Next, to him, he heard Amira snort. 

Matteo walked around the store, picking up random books, reading the covers, and then putting them back. Amira was on the opposite side of the store looking for a book for one of her classes next semester. He had walked down three aisles and had no idea what to look for, since he wasn’t a big book person. 

“I could give you some recommendations if you’re lost?” Matteo turned around to see David, leaning against a bookshelf.

“Uh, yeah. Sure.” Why was he so awkward? It’s not like he hadn’t seen cute guys before. But something about David was… different. He made Matteo’s heart race and he felt like throwing up when David looked at him for even the smallest moment. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

David started talking about a couple of books that he thought Matteo would like. He mentioned  _ The Song of Achilles _ and  _ Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe _ , both of which, David pointed out, were gay. 

Matteo ended up buying the first book David had suggested. He and Amira walked out of the store and head towards the bus station.

“So I take it you’ve met David before?” Amira sounded amused and Matteo wanted to die. “Alright, ‘Gay Matteo’, where to next?” 

She was never going to let him forget about this.


	2. There's an art to life's distractions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matteo goes back to the bookstore...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the comments on the last chapter, i’m glad you enjoyed it. Thank you again to Ladypeaceful for helping me out and thank you to Chlouais and xToniBx for helping me on this chapter as well.

Matteo wasn’t one for books but he had somehow finished the one he bought at David’s bookstore in two days. He had actually kind of liked it. He saw himself a little in Patroclus. He felt his father didn’t love him, even more so recently. Matteo had checked to see if his dad had at least read the text he had sent. 

A wave of anger passed through him after seeing that his father had indeed read the message. What kind of father didn’t reply to his son?

He had to do something before he thought about it too much. So, he went back to the bookstore. On the bus there, Matteo listened to music to keep his mind off of his father. 

Ten minutes later, Matteo walked through the door and heard the sound of the bell above him that was already so familiar to him. He looked towards the counter at the back of the store and saw David. It seemed like whenever Matteo was there, he was always working. 

David looked up at the sound of the door. “Couldn’t resist me, huh?” 

Matteo felt his cheeks heat up and David went back to whatever he was doing behind the counter. Did he just flirt with him? Matteo couldn’t tell and he also couldn’t remember if David had been this coy the last couple of times he had been there.

‘ _ Or maybe he was like this with everyone. You really aren’t special,’  _ he told himself.

He walked around the store, more familiar with what genres were in what aisles now. Still, he had no idea what he was looking for. In all honesty, he had just come to distract himself, which had started to work. 

“Do you need help again?” David shouted to him from the other side of the store. Even though Matteo was sure he was the only one there besides David, he still looked down the aisles, just to make sure the question had been directed towards him.

“Uh, yeah, thanks,” he answered as he walked over to where David was. 

“So, I’m guessing you read  _ Song of Achilles _ ? Did you enjoy it?” He was now leaning on the counter and his eyes were bright with interest. Matteo had only seen David’s eyes at a distance before now. They were a buckeye brown and he wanted to get even closer to admire their beauty. 

“Uh, yeah. It was good.” 

“Good.” He thought that the small smile on David's face had been lovely. He actually thought everything about David had been lovely so far. 

“I know of some other books that have a similar feel to them if you’d like. Or if you want, I could recommend different genres .” Even though David’s sister owned the bookstore, Matteo knew David didn’t just work there for that reason. He could tell that he was a gigantic nerd and probably read a lot in his free time. 

“I mean, I’d be fine with either. I just need a distraction.” 

“Well, that doesn’t help. Got any interests?” 

“Um, aliens? Or space in general, I guess.” Matteo said. David’s eyes sparked. 

“We’ve got plenty of books with aliens. Per my request.” He walked out from behind the counter and motioned for Matteo to follow him as he walked down an aisle. 

“I think this book is one of my favorites.” David said as he pulled out a book labeled  _ Year Zero _ . “It’s about how the entire cosmos has become obsessed with Earth music ever since ‘year zero’ or 1977. The universe racks up so much debt to Earth that, instead of paying it off, they plan to destroy the planet. A couple of aliens go down to Earth and talk to a copyright lawyer named Nick Carter, and they go on a bunch of adventures and stuff.” 

“Sounds interesting.” 

“It is,” David laughed. The bell chimed and a woman called for David. He handed Matteo the book, “I’ll be right back if this book doesn’t interest you, this whole aisle is space-related.” 

Matteo walked down the aisle and picked up books at random. The further he got down the aisle, the older the publication date was. He picked up a book called  _ Lagoon _ , which was published in 2014, and read the back cover.

_ It said,“Lagoon, Nnedi Okorafor's latest novel, is a swirling writhing cross section of life in Lagos, Nigeria as aliens make contact for the first time ever. It doesn't go smoothly — a fact which allows Okorafor to bring to life a fascinating view of Lagos in all its contradictions.”  _

“Find something you like?” Matteo jolted backwards when David spoke. He hadn’t noticed him standing behind him. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s okay, and yeah. I think so.” Matteo answered. “I think I’ll get both books.” 

“Sure,” David said as he walked back to the counter. Matteo followed him and set the books down so David could scan them. “Do you want me to put these in a bag for you?”

“Yeah, that’d be great. Thanks.” Matteo handed David the money for the books and noticed him put something on the inside cover of  _ Year Zero _ . He didn’t think anything of it. 

David smiled as he handed Matteo the bag of books. Their hands touched for a moment and Matteo had suddenly felt warm inside. Even after they were no longer touching, he felt the ghost of David’s touch. 

“So, see you around, I guess,” Matteo said. In his attempt to leave the store as nonchalant as possible, Matteo tripped over his own feet. He stumbled over and nearly fell onto his face. David laughed behind him.

“Are you okay?” He asked as Matteo stood up off the floor.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Everything is still intact.”

“That’s good.” 

—

Matteo woke up the next day to a text from his father. He should have been relieved that his dad had finally answered. Instead, his head started to come up with what terrible things the text might have said. His palms started to sweat and his heart was in his throat. He wanted to know what it said but he was scared. Rather than ripping the bandaid off like he should have, he picked up one of the books he had bought the day before.

It was strange. Before recently, he would have lit a joint and enjoyed the numbness it gave him. That was before Jonas had told him that it was becoming a problem. He had denied it at first but after awhile he had realized he needed help. It was difficult in the beginning, but now he had a handle on it. He hadn't smoked since six months ago.

Matteo opened  _ Year Zero _ and was about to start reading when he saw something. Taped to the inside of the book was a yellow post-it note. On the note, there was a doodle. It depicted a blushing figure with eyes covered by hair. It didn’t have much detail but Matteo figured it was supposed to be him. He smiled and turned the page to start reading.

He tried to focus on the book, but he kept thinking about David. How he had taken the time -even if it was only a small amount- to draw him. No one had ever done something like that before. It was sweet. So that’s how he found himself scrolling through Amira’s Instagram followers, looking for a David.

He didn’t have any photos of himself on his page. It was all photos of paintings or sketches that he had done. Matteo liked a few he thought were the best -which was hard to decide because they were all so good- and followed him.

He hadn’t expected David to follow him back, much less him DM him after he sent a ‘thank you for the drawing’.

“You’re welcome. How did you find my instagram, though. Are you stalking me?”

How was he supposed to answer that? Had he been stalking David? If he had been, he hadn’t tried that hard. It didn’t take him long to find David. Amira didn’t follow a lot of people. 

“Uh, no?” He typed, “at least I don't think so?”

**da_vid.gif: ** Do you like the book?  _ (13:01) _

**matteohno: ** haven’t read it yet  _ (13:09) _

**matteohno: ** got distracted  _ (13:10) _

David didn’t answer right away. Matteo had assumed that he had lost interest. He probably had better things to do anyway.

**da_vid.gif:** sorry, phone died  _ (13:50) _

**matteohno: ** it’s all good  _ (13:52) _

**matteohno:** so when did you get into art?  _ (13:54) _

**da_vid.gif:** started when I was maybe 10? I had a lot of anger as a kid and I guess that’s how I expressed it  _ (13:55) _

They ended up talking until David said he needed to go do something. Before, Matteo just thought that he was a cute guy he met and that it meant nothing. Now, after talking to him and getting to know him better, he had a full-on crush. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know when i’ll get the next chapter up, i start school again soon so please be patient if i don’t update soon. <3

**Author's Note:**

> I’m working on the second chapter now. I don’t know when it will be up seeing as i’ve just started writing. i’m determined to not abandon this fic tho.


End file.
